Spiritual Drought and Times of Refreshing

Sometimes life is difficult, so much so, that our soul feels weathered and dry and our prayers flat and lifeless.  We long for a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit, but no matter how long we search for that refreshment, we can only see the desert and feel the dry air of spiritually empty space.  God’s voice seems muffled and our heart just can’t muster the strength to pray; we’re in a spiritual drought.

We can hope, and pray that the Lord would bring renewal- streams of revival, but finding the words to even ask Him can be a struggle.   It’s hard to pray for our own heart, let alone the hearts of our sons and daughters.  

It’s times like these that we need to turn to Scripture and pray the words God’s given us.  He’s so generously provided rich words filled with Truth and hope, bathed in grace and saturated with mercy.  His Word is always enough.  And how can we be equipped to pray for our sons and daughters if we’re not immersing ourselves in the Word, allowing God to empty us of ourselves and fill us with Him? Sometimes the season of drought helps bring things into perspective. It brings to light the necessities of survival for our spiritual life: Jesus’ living water, the breath of God and the fire of the Holy Spirit…the elements of the Living God.

We need to be that tree in Psalm 1, planted by streams of water,  which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.  Notice, the fruit comes in season…that means there are seasons without fruit.  That’s okay. It doesn’t mean we’re ineffective.  It doesn’t mean we’re broken.  We haven’t stepped out of His will so that He’s removing His hand of blessing.  No, though the tree might ‘look’ dead, its roots are deep and the branches are preparing for another season of growth.  So, too, God allows us to go through dry seasons as He prepares us for another time of growth.  Consider the maple tree.  In the dead of winter, when the forest is brown and brittle, the maple tree begins to run its sap.  The sweetest product of the tree comes when it ‘appears’ to be lifeless.  So, too, God can bring sweetness out of our drought-ridden times.

The Law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul (Ps 19.7). 

So, today, take time to soak in the Word of God.  Let His words fill you and saturate your soul with His living water.  Pray Scripture back to Him. Be refreshed by His Word.

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?  Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Ps 42:1-2,11

I waited patiently for the Lord ; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.  He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord .  Psalm 40:1-3 1 

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.  I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.  Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.  I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.  My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.  Ps 63:1-5 

Why not share, in the comments, other scripture that’s spoken to you.  Let’s encourage one another on to faithfulness and joy!  Be encouraged, friends, times of refreshing are coming!

Pray without ceasing.

Leaky Buckets

Jeremiah 2:13 “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

Imagine standing at the window for a moment  watching the kids playing outside, busy with ‘kid things’ and having fun.  One of them has a bucket and is determined to bring water from the spigot to the ‘fish pond’ they’re constructing on the other side of the yard.  But the bucket they found is one with a hole in the bottom.  They fill it until they’re barely able to carry it, and then drag it, sloshing, across the yard.  But the whole time they’re working hard to get to their ‘work site’, the water is draining out of the hole.  They arrive only to realize they lost most of the water and they have to go back to refill, hoping that this time they’ll be able to return with more water.  But each time, it yields the same result.  Yet, they continue this fruitless effort. Trip after trip yields little compared to their effort.

We look at this and know exactly what the problem is and how to fix it.  Yet, when something like this happens in our own lives, we’re oblivious to the spiritual significance.  Far too often we work hard to fill ourselves with things that we think will satisfy, but we haven’t allowed Jesus to repair the ‘hole in our bucket’ and all the things we fill ourselves with simply drain out and leave us empty and unfulfilled.  We become exactly those of whom Jeremiah 2:13 speaks- forsakers of Christ, digging our own cisterns that are broken and cannot hold water, working so hard to be filled yet not recognizing we will never be able to satisfy that thirst ourselves.

We are confronted daily with our own desires and the lies that tell us we’ll find our satisfaction in other things- whether they be relationships, careers, finances or experiences.  And there isn’t anything wrong with those things, but when we set them on a pedestal as the answer to and fulfillment of our dissatisfaction and they become the things by which we determine our value, we set ourselves up for disillusionment. We create idols and false gods that we exhaust ourselves serving. It’s fruitless and empty. We are trying to fill a bucket that has a hole.  

Colossians 3:1-2 says, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”  If we belong to the Lord, our hearts and minds need to be focused on him.

Where is our focus?  To Whom do we look for fulfillment and satisfaction?  As our world grows darker and more tumultuous, our ‘buckets’ are sure to become battered and worn.  Yet Christ is able to heal and fill us in extraordinary ways. He is the only One who can sustain us.  Are we looking to Him?

And what about our sons and daughters?  Are they digging their own cisterns, cracked and unable to hold the Living Water?  Are they falling for the lies or are they protecting their hearts and minds in Christ?

Today, let’s take time to pray that our sons and daughters would not forsake the Lord.  Pray that they would not try to satisfy their spiritual thirst with temporal things but that they would let Jesus fill them.  Pray their hearts and minds would be set on Christ and they would be satisfied with His living water filling them afresh each day.

Pray without ceasing.